The Unspeakable
by sillygirl8406
Summary: A Amber Alert in Vegas. Can Grissom find the missing boy in time to save his life, and what does a runaway teenager have to do with it?
1. The runaway

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Spoilers: None as of this moment.

Rating R: For language and violence.

A/N: This is my third fan fiction, I hope everyone who reads it enjoys it.

May 25, 2005 : Start of Grave Shift

"This is an update one the Amber Alert from a week ago," the television in the break room is on, telling the latest news, "3 year old Zachary Jacobs is still missing. He was abducted from his home in Henderson, Nevada." A picture of the boy comes on the screen. He has dark blond hair, hazel eyes, about 3 feet tall and 55 pounds. "The boy was last seen wearing a blue polo shirt, blue jeans and a Arizona Diamondbacks baseball cap. There is no information on suspect or car. Please, if you have any information contact the Las Vegas Police Department." The newswoman says before it goes onto commercials.

Sara turns from the television and looks around the break room. "It's been a week since his abduction, I'm surprised they're still announcing on the news." She sits down in a chair at the table next to Greg.

"Well," Greg says as he turns to look at Sara, "his parents are still hopeful. And, they have the money to keep the story on the news. I just can't believe we haven't found any evidence to help them. And it doesn't help that the boy is three years old, I mean he couldn't even fight back."

They suddenly look up at the door as Grissom and Sophia walk into the break room. They try their hand at smiles but none are real. Sophia collapses into a chair and waits for Grissom to speak. This case has been hard on all of them, but there's nothing else the can do but wait, and they knew exactly what they were waiting for, Zack's body to be found.

Grissom clears his throat. "Alright. Lets get started. Greg you take the B&E."

"Solo," he says, surprised.

"Yeah. Sophia, you and Sara got a DB."

"Alright, lets go." Sara says to Sophia as she takes the slip from Grissom and they head out the door.

"What about you Grissom," Greg asks as he goes over to him to get his slip.

"I have a confrontation at a gas station," he says as he turns around and starts down the hall to the exit.

"A…confrontation," Greg asks as he follows him.

"They have a guy held up in there. They don't know what's wrong with him. It's like he can't understand them. They think he's deaf so…"

"Oh. Is that why I'm solo tonight?"

"Partly, and I think you're ready to handle a solo case. The B&E isn't that bad, I got the information about it already. You should be okay, but if you need any help, call me."

"Okay. Thanks Grissom," Greg says as he heads out to his car.

000000000000000000000000

May 25, 2005: Five hours earlier.

He looks into the hazel eyes of the boy sitting on the floor in front of him. He was surprised one week earlier when his door opened and the boy was brought down. He just stayed in his place on the bed and watched as Frank, his father, brought him down the stairs. The boy didn't cry or…anything.

"This is Zack." Frank had said to him.

After Frank left he sat on the bed looking at this other boy for a long time. He'd never seen another person before, well, besides Frank, but that was it.

At first, he didn't know what to do or what was going on. Then several days ago he'd found out. He went back down to his room after he finished his chores for that day when he saw Frank standing in front of Zack, Frank was yelling at him. He stopped on the stairs and watched as Frank yelled at Zack, then the hit came. He had almost let out a scream, but instead, he ran over to Frank and hit him. Frank then turned his attention to him. He just stood there, letting Frank pound him into the floor instead.

Why, not, he does it all the time to me anyway.

When Frank was finally done and left. He pulled himself up onto his bed and looked over at Zack, who started crying. He stared at him for the longest time, trying to think of a way to stop the boy from crying.

But, why should I? One of us should, and I know it can't be me.

So, he let Zack cry all night and into the day as he sat on the bed and watched him.

Now, looking at those hazel eyes and the dried blood on Zack's face, he knows what he has to do.

He gets fully clothed, a shirt with a flannel over it and his jacket. He finds his shoes and puts them on, he hardly ever wears them because he's never been outside a day in his life that he remembers anyway. He grabs Zack by the arm and pulls him behind him as he walks up to the top of the stairs. He turns the knob but it doesn't move.

"Damn it," he says under his breath, not even loud enough for Zack to hear him.

He looks at Zack and barely whispers to him, "Stay here." He turns around and walks back down into his room and looks around the room. He quickly finds what he's looking for, a thin piece of metal that came off of a pipe that runs across the far wall. He walks back up the stairs and turns the knob again and pushes the door as far as it'll go. He looks up and sees the latch for the hook. He slides the metal in-between the door and the frame and places it right under the hook. He pulls the door towards him a little then he pushes the hook up off of the latch.

He hears the hook drop against the door. He then opens the door up slowly and grabs Zack's arm again and pulls him with him out of the basement and into the kitchen. He looks around and he suddenly stops, catching his breath in his throat as he sees Frank in the living room asleep in the recliner.

He gets his breath back and turns to look at Zack. Zack looks up at him with a fearful expression.

It's okay, Zack.

He turns from Zack and pulls him with him as he walks to the back door. He unlocks it and pulls Zack with him as he slowly exit's the house for the first time in his life. He closes the door slowly behind him. He suddenly takes off with Zack in a sprint across the backyard and into the woods off the backyard. He doesn't stop until he feels Zack lagging behind him. He stops and turns to him. He realizes that Zack can't keep up with him so he picks him up and places him on his hip.

"Okay Zack?" he asks in a whisper. Zack nods his head rapidly up and down.

He takes that as a 'yes', then he starts running again. He doesn't stop until his sides start to hurt and his legs start to get wobbly. He places Zack down on the ground as he catches his breath. He looks up and searches the area. They have just cleared the woods. He looks up and sees a old railroad track and on the other side of the track more woods. He grabs Zack's hand and leads him to the tracks. Once there he looks down one way then the other. He shrugs and turns to Zack.

"Where do we go?" He looks back and forth again. Then he starts off to the his right, pulling Zack with him.

After an hour of walking under the desert sun they come to a street going over the tracks. He stops and looks one way down the street as a car flies by them heading the other way. He looks at the car speeding away in awe.

What the hell was that?

"Car!" Zack yells from his side.

He looks down at him. _The boy speaks. _"Car?"

Zack looks up at him and nods. "Car go zoom," he says as he mimics a car going by with his hand.

"Car…zoom," he says under his breath and turns back to looking at the car that's almost out of sight. "Let's go find car."

They walk again for another twenty minutes before they see a big warehouse on the side of the street. He looks around and doesn't see any place else that's close to them. There are some other buildings in the distance but he wants to rest now and the sun is starting to go down.

He walks over to the building and searches for a door. He finds them but they are all locked. He looks around and sees Zack holding trying to pick up a big rock. He walks over to him and grabs the rock up.

"Good thinking." He takes the rock and tries to bust open the doors with it. When that doesn't work he looks at the windows, he sees one on the far side that he'll be able to climb into. He takes the rock and throws it through the window. After he clears broken glass away he helps Zack into the building as he pulls himself up and into the building.

The building is very old and worn down. The room that they entered is full with old machinery and it's covered with dust. He grabs Zack and pulls him close to his side as they walk further into the building. There's nothing but old, dusty machinery and old office furniture in the building.

He finds a chair and places Zack in it. He looks down at him and notices that his nose has started to bleed some.

"Okay Zack," He asks as he takes off his jacket and wraps it around the sleepy boy. He then takes the end of his long sleeve shirt and wipes the blood from the boy's nose. He hears Zack's stomach rumble, and his own, and he stands up. He goes over to a window and looks out. The sun has already set and he can't see anything but a glow of light on the horizon. He looks back over at the boy who is falling asleep in the chair. He goes back over to him.

"Zack."

Zack looks up at him and grins.

"I'm going to find some food, okay. You stay here and sleep."

Zack nods his head as he shuts his eyes again and drifts off to sleep. He looks down at the sleepy boy for a moment before he turns around and goes to the broken window.

It was hot while the sun was up, but now, it is cool outside. He looks back, debating on whether to get his jacket back, but he has on a cotton shirt and a long sleeve flannel button up shirt so he decides to let Zack keep the jacket. He then climbs out of the window and looks around. The desert is completely dark except for off to his right where he sees the glowing light.

He'd been walking towards that light for hours before he finally got within sight of a single building.

He looks up at the sign, "Stop…Go.", he reads, because that's all he can read.

He looks into the window of the store and sees what he's been looking for food, and lots of it. He looks around and sees no one else there except the one person, a woman, he thinks, is in the store behind the counter.

He walks into the store and heads straight to the food aisles. The woman looks up from her magazine and looks at the guy who has just entered the 'Stop and Go Gas Station'. She stares at the guy for many reason's: one, she doesn't think he has any money from the look of his old worn down clothes and shoes, and because he looks like he hasn't had a bath in awhile, and two, has what looks like fading bruises over his face. He looks to be in his late teens, she thinks, and his dark hair is unruly and hasn't been cut in years. She watches him as he looks around the store in what seems like complete happiness.

He walks around the store and to the back to the refrigerated foods. He sees sandwiches already made so he grabs a couple of those and a gallon of milk from the refrigerators.

"You have to pay for those you know." The woman says to him.

He turns around and looks at the woman at the counter. _Pay? What's that? _looks at the woman in confusion as he walks over to her, then he turns to head out the door.

"Hey! Man, I said you have to pay for those!" She yells at him as she walks around the counter with a bat in her hands.

At the sound of the woman yelling at him he stops in his tracks, frozen. The woman grabs his arm and turns him around. He looks at her and at the sight of seeing the bat he drops the food on the floor and covers his head and braces himself.

Please, please don't hit me with that!

The woman pulls him further into the store. "Stay there. I'm calling the cops!"

He stands there with his arms over his head as he stares down at the floor.

And that's just about the way Grissom finds him as he comes into the store. He scans the store. He sees the scattered food and the milk covering half of the floor in front of the counter. He looks up to where the guy is standing with his eyes glued to the floor. He brings his hands up and clap in front of him. He sees the guy flinch.

"Well. He's not deaf," he says over his shoulder to Jim. "What exactly has he done?"

Jim walks up beside him. "He was stealing food from the store. When the clerk turned him around the freaked. Covered his head and just prepared himself."

"Prepared himself for what?"

"The clerk had a bat in her hands. I think maybe he thought that she was going to hit him with it. Then, she tried to talk to him, as did the first officer on the scene and me. No luck, it's like he shut down. I thought that since he didn't respond that maybe he couldn't hear us."

"He hears us, but maybe he can't speak," Grissom says as he slowly walk closer to the guy.

"I wouldn't do that Gil," Jim says from behind him.

"Why not?"

"The first officer tried to move him. It wasn't any use. The guy isn't going to move unless he wants to. We want to use force but we cant' unless we feel that our lives are in danger, so we can't forcibly move him."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"This isn't an negotiation Gil."

"Yes, Jim, it is. Maybe he doesn't feel safe." Grissom walks up to stand right in front of the guy. "It's okay," he says to him, "I'm not going to hurt you, okay. Can you look at me," he asks slowly and in his softest, calm voice he has.

The guy slowly looks up and meets Grissom's eyes. Grissom takes a breath at the sight of the guy's eyes. Not only the nice shiner on his left eye but from the intense fear he sees in them, he doesn't think he's ever seen such fear in a person before.

He swallows the lump in his throat. "Can you tell me your name?"

At that the guy gets the hint of confusion behind the fearing eyes. Grissom nods his head in understanding.

"Okay, no name then. How about we leave this store, okay? We'll just go outside. No one will hurt you."

The guy looks pass him and at the food on the floor. Grissom looks to where he's looking at. He then looks back up at the guy.

"I can take you some where to get food, free of charge."

The guy looks back at him then immediately back to the floor. He then starts walking to the entrance to the store and Grissom follows him.

TBC…..?

If you want to know what happens next, please review!


	2. The Interrogation

A/N: Here's the next chapter.

May 26, 2005: 1 a.m.

The ride to the department was done in silent, but on the entering of the building the guy looked around wide-eyed what is going on around him. He can't help but look at everything in the department because he's never seen anything like the stuff in it before. A lot of things catches his eyes, but the things that he got afraid of instantly are the guns he sees on just about everyone.

Brass leads him into the interrogation room and tells him to sit down. The guy does so, but on the wrong side of the table.

Brass quirks an eyebrow. "Would you sit in this seat?" He taps the one on the other side of the table.

The guy gets up and sits in that one with his head down. Brass walks to the other side of the table to face him.

"We'll start once Grissom gets here. I'll be right back." He leaves the room to go find Grissom.

Brass finds him at the front desk. "Coming Gil. I have him in the interrogation room."

Grissom nods and follows Brass. "I want to watch him for a while though."

"Why?"

"To get an understanding. If he's not going to talk, why try to talk to him. I want to see how he responses to the room, being alone."

"He knows that we can see him through the mirror Gil."

"Does he," He asks as he goes into the observation room.

Grissom stands in front of the glass watching the guy in the next room. The guy is just sitting at the table with his head down. "Why isn't there an officer in there with him?"

"I didn't think he would be any trouble and I was right from the look of it. I don't think he's moved since he sat down."

Grissom purses his lips, thinking. "Why don't you put one in there. I want to see his reaction."

"You sure?" Brass asks him.

Grissom just nods.

"Okay." He leaves the room and seconds later an officer walks into the interrogation room and stands against the wall. Then he walks back into the room with Grissom. "Anything?"

At the moment the officer came into the room and leaned against the wall, the guy tightened up, he catches his breath and he doesn't look up to meet the officers eyes, he never takes his eyes off of the table. The look in his eyes changed too, it went from a lazy look of staring to fear and uncertainty.

Grissom watches as all this happens to the guy. "Yeah. Actually, a lot happened." He turns and looks at Brass. "I want to be in there with him, alone."

Brass looks at him then back at the guy. "Okay, but I'll be here watching."

Grissom walks pass him and out the door. He walks into the interrogation room and asks the officer to leave. After he does, Grissom closes the door and walks over to the table slowly and sits down in front of the guy, placing his crime scene kit on the floor next to his chair.

"Remember me," he asks.

The guy barely looks up and nods.

"I'm glad you can understand me. It makes this a lot easier." He frowns when he doesn't see the guy relax any. "No one here is going to hurt you…" He stops and thinks. "I would really like to know your name. If I had that, I can help you."

__

I can't talk to you…I can't trust you. Please, leave me alone. The guy shakes his head.

"Why can't you tell me your name?"

__

'Cause I don't fucking have one! The guy lets out a sigh and lefts his head up a little so he can see Grissom's eyes.

Grissom sits back and looks at the guy in front of him. He sees the hurt and confusion that is hidden in his eyes. He lets out of breath. "So, it's not that you can't tell me, but that you don't have one…is that it?"

The guy nods his head.

"Well, we usually call unknown males by the name 'John Doe'. Can I call you John?"

__

Sure, it's better then 'boy' or any other name I've been called. The guy shrugs then after a second he nods his head.

"Okay, John, can you at least look at me when I talk to you?"

John lefts his head up a little further and looks at Grissom. Grissom smiles at him, trying to get him to feel comfortable, but he doesn't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

"You are safe here John, I promise. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay?"

John stares back at him, some of the fear subsides but not all of it. He does however, let his shoulders slump a little indicating that some of his guard is down. Grissom smiles at this.

"Good. Now, can you talk, at all?"

John nods his head.

"Then can you talk to me, let me help you?"

John after a moment gets the fear back in his eyes and shakes his head.

Grissom lets out a sigh, he's usually a very patient man but this is literally driving him crazy.

"Why not?"

John looks down again, hoping that the tears that were welling up is noticed, but they are.

"John?"

John puts his elbows up on the table and leans his head into them and wrapping his hands around his head. _I can't! Why can't you let me go. I have to get back to Zack with the food…please let me go. Please, please don't keep me here. I can't talk to you! I have to tell him something. I have to make him understand._

Grissom looks at John, studying him. He looks over his skin that was once hidden by the sleeves of the flannel. He sees that John's face isn't the only thing has been abused. John's wrists have scars that wrap all the way around his wrists. He's seen this before, but usually, it was around a dead person's neck, strangulation, but John's neck wasn't what was wrapped up with rope. He then looks at the shirt, he scans over the flannel that John's wearing. He sees what looks like blood on the outside of the left sleeve. He looks at it closely and sees that it's new. He then searches John's arm for any sign of injuries, when he doesn't see any he looks over at the glass then back to John.

"What's on your sleeve John?"

John looks at Grissom from between his arms, confused.

"This…you see, this looks to be blood. Is it yours?"

John looks at his sleeve then back up at Grissom. _No, it's Zack's._ He shakes his head.

"Then whose is it?"

John realizes that something in Grissom's eyes has changed, and his tone. _What did I do? I'm sorry, please don't hurt me for this._

Grissom notices that John got fearful again and he stiffened up again, preparing himself.

"I didn't mean for that to sound angry, John. I'm sorry. You're still safe here, understand."

__

Liar! You fucking liar you're just like Frank aren't you. Always pretending like it's okay then bam! A hit to the face or a belt to the back! You're not going to hurt me! You're not going to hurt Zack!

Grissom looks over to the glass when he sees the anger rise up in John's eyes. The fear that was once there, is now replaced with rage. Grissom stands up and goes over to the door. Brass walks in.

"Everything okay Gil?"

"No," he looks over his shoulder at John who again put his head down. "He has blood on his sleeve but he told me it wasn't his. I need his shirt, but I don't think he'll just hand it over. He looked ready to kill me if I touched him."

Brass looks over at the guy in the chair. "Okay, we need a warrant if he isn't willing to hand it over."

"I don't think he knows what a warrant is Jim. I don't think he even understands what's going on. I was just think of intimidation…I really don't want that, but I don't think we can do it any other way."

Brass nods. "Okay. I think I might be enough, I don't want to scare the kid too bad."

Brass comes into the interrogation room with Grissom. Grissom walks back over to the table with Jim next to him.

"John, I'm going to need your shirt. I need to know whose blood that is so I can help that person if they're in trouble. Do you understand?"

John looks up and sees Grissom and Brass standing next to him. He quickly gets defensive again and when he notices Brass's gun he has a sudden intake of breath.

__

I knew it. You're here to hurt me. He gets tears rising up in his eyes. _I knew I couldn't trust you._ He lets a tear fall as he stands up and slowly takes the flannel off. He lays it on the table. He quickly wipes the tear away, hoping that they didn't see it, but they did of course.

Grissom opens up his field kit and pulls a bag out. He takes the shirt off of the table and bags it.

"I'm going to have Captain Brass take you to another room for further processing." He grabs the bag and turns to Jim. "I'm going to take this to DNA. I'll be back as soon as possible to process him."

"Okay, we'll be waiting," Brass says over his shoulder as Grissom leaves the room.

TBC

Please review, you know me, I need the inspiration.


	3. The Identity

**A/N:** OMG! I can't believe it took me this long to update, I'm so sorry! I haven't had internet service in a while, so I'm sorry that it took forever, but now I have internet back and a lot of time on my hands since I'm not working right now...which sucks, lol. Anyway, here's chapter 3.

Grissom hurries down the hallway to the DNA lab. He spots Mia in the lab working on some other samples already.

"Mia," he says as he walks into the room, "I need you to process this shirt for me." He takes it out of the bag and hands it to her and showing her the blood stain. "I need to know whose blood this is by the time I get back."

"Okay, how long will that be?" She asks while swabbing the shirt.

"Ten minutes maybe." He says as he walks out of the DNA lab and directly into Greg. "Hey, Greg...sorry."

"Gris. I just finished the B&E, files on your desk." He says as he follows Grissom down the hallway.

"Already?" Grissom looks over at him, "That was fast."

"Well, there wasn't much to it. The scene was pretty easy, the guy made no attempt to be clean, and he was already caught trying to leave the neighborhood. He confessed, so, I'm all done. Need my help with your case?"

Grissom stops at the room where Brass and John are and looks over at Greg. "Yes, actually I could use some help." He takes a breath then pulls Greg across the hall to talk to him. "I have a young male, maybe 18 years old who, I believe, has no idea what's going on and I don't mean just about being here, I mean everything. And he is so scared to death he won't talk to us. So, we have to do the talking for him. Find everything we can about him, if anything."

"Well," Greg says, "I could try to find school records, what's his name?"

"I don't know. I need to get his DNA and fingerprints..."

"But you can't get a court order."

"Not yet, that's why I was coming from DNA. If we can get a hit off the blood on his shirt that matches a case, we can get an order."

"Grissom, what if he's not 18? We can't question him without someone..."

"Jim has already talked to our new DA, he's gave us the go ahead since he has no ID, and he's on his way over here just in case."

"Okay, so, what do you need me to do?"

Grissom thinks for a moment, "Help me with him. He might respond better to you...you're young." He says with a shrug.

Grissom turns around and walks back over to the room with Greg following. Inside the room, Brass is standing against the wall as John paces by the back wall. John's head snaps up when he hears the door open as Grissom and Greg walk into the room.

"Anything?" Grissom asks Brass.

"Nope. He's just been walking back and forth. I was getting tired just looking at him." Brass looks pass Grissom to Greg, "Hey Greg, here to help?"

"Yeah, I'll do my best."

"Okay then. I'm going to leave. The DA called me, he wants to talk to me. How nice huh, a one-on-one with the new guy telling me how to do my job. I'll be back shortly." He says as he leaves the room.

Grissom starts to unload this field kit when Greg kneels down beside him, "Grissom, what exactly are we doing?"

Grissom raises an eyebrow and looks at Greg questionly, "What do you mean?"

"We can't get DNA or fingerprints so what..."

"Oh," he smirks, "take photos and process the rest of his clothing...that's all."

Greg nods and takes the camera, "Okay, I'll start with pictures." He stands up and faces John who hasn't moved from the back wall. "Man."

Grissom stands up, "What?"

Greg turns to him, "He looks...terrified."

Grissom looks at John. He has his arms wrapped around him tightly and his knees are shaking a little, but his face lets his terror out, he's biting his bottom lip to the point that Grissom's afraid if he steps any closer he'll bite through it, and his eyes are fixed on the two of them so intensely fearful that he can make out the slightest hint of tears welling up.

Grissom turns back to Greg, "Are you going to be okay with this Greg?"

"Yeah, I can handle it. If I can handle finding kids locked in a basement, I can handle this."

"Greg, I'm sorry about that case, if I knew--"

"Grissom, it's okay, it's the job right?"

"Right."

Greg nods and starts to move toward John cautiously, taking pictures as he he does so. Grissom walks slowly towards John taking in the better view of the guy. He examines intensely his outer clothes, the way they're worn down with some small holes here and there, but mostly, he is watching his reaction to Greg as he's taking his picture. He looks like that any minute he's going to snatch the camera away from Greg, or maybe, jump Greg for taking his picture.

"Okay," Greg says as he takes off the camera, "All done with the pictures."

Grissom nods, "Okay, now we need to process his clothing."

Greg turns to Grissom, "How?"

Grissom is about to say something when Mia knocks on the door and peeks in, "Grissom, I have the DNA results."

"I'll be right back." He goes out into the hallway with Mia. "Who?"

Mia takes a deep breath, "It's Zachary Jacobs."

Grissom looks up at her in confusion and disbelief, "What? Are you sure?"

"Positive, I ran it twice to make sure. It's him. And I also swabbed the sweat around to collar to see who this guy is, I fingered it'll be okay--"

"And?"

She hands him the test results, "Old missing person case, 15 years ago a 4 year old boy was taken from his home in Phoenix, Arizona. Name is William Shelton."

"15 years ago...that'll make him 19. Thanks Mia."

"You're welcome. I just hope this kid can help you find Zach."

"Me too." He takes the files from mia and goes back into the room.

Greg going through the field kit, William is still standing by the wall. Greg stands and nods to Grissom, "So, whose blood?"

"Zachary Jacobs."

Gregs mouth opens slightly in disbelief, "No way."

"Yeah. And we also know who this guy is, William Shelton, from Arizona."

"How?"

"Sweat on the collar. He's 19 and he was kidnapped when he was 4. I need you to find out everything out about him, his family, and that case."

"I'm on it." Greg takes the folder and hurries out the room.

Grissom stays behind watching William, "So, I now know who you are William. Are you going to help me find Zack."

_Zack, he knows about him now. What...what am I going to do. He'll take him back to Frank, I know he will. _William thinks to himself.

Grissom sees the confusion and worry in his eyes, "Look William. We're not going to hurt him, okay. He was taken, just like you from his family. We want to take him back to his real mom and dad. Do you understand, I know you do William. You're smarter then what you're letting on aren't you. How else could you escape?"

_William..is that my name? I, I think I remember that. _He stares into Grissom's eyes, _he's worried, he want's to help Zack, help me. I have to trust someone, right. He hasn't hurt you, not yet. Maybe he won't. Be careful boy...William, be careful right now._

William lets out a breath, "I...was getting food for him." _That wasn't so bad._

Grissom smiles in relief, William's finally trusting him, "For Zachary?"

William nods, "He was hungry."

"Can you tell me where he is?"

"I...don't know. It was at night, dark. Ah..." Think, what's the word, "big house."

"Big house?"

"Ah, yeah, many rooms, big rooms. Walls like the basement."

Grissom looks confused now, "Basement?"

"My room was the basement. Never left the basement, until Zack. He didn't..." _Damn it! I can't think, remember William, remember how to speak. _"He didn't, ah, um, I'm the only one who lived there, not Zack." _That's it...I think._

Grissom went over that in his head, trying to understand what he's saying, "You mean that, Zack didn't belong there, like you?"

William let a small smile cross his face, "Right."

"So you escaped with him and now he's in a big house."

William nods, "Right. We saw a car."

"You did."

"Zack said, 'Car go zoom.' We went to find the car but we find a big house, no car."

"Okay," Grissom nods, "thanks William."

"Can, can I get food now?" William asks with pleading eyes.

"Oh, yeah. I'll take you back to the room we were in before and I'll get you something to eat."

He escorts William out of the room and back into the interrogation room. Brass comes walking in, "There you are. You really need to stop changing rooms Gil."

"Brass, lets talk in the hall."

Once in the hall Grissom turns to Brass and fills him in on what was found out.

Brass looks stone solid, "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not. I think that the person who took William is the same person who took Zachary. This guy can help us find them both. But..."

"But what?"

"He doesn't know a lot of things Jim. He talks like he's still 4. His vocabulary is stuck there since he probably hasn't been to school. He's lived in a basement most of his life, and the only person he's had contact with is his kidnapper and abuser."

"What can we do?"

"Process his clothes, see if he has anything on him that can point us anywhere, and get Dr. Kane here. Maybe he can talk to him and get something out of him, a repressed memory or something. Jim, Zack's been without food or water for who knows how long, at least a day that we know of, we're running out of time. If he's some place where he can't get to food or water, we may only have less then two days to find him."

"I can get some officers out to the gas station. Have them spread out and look for some big house or building in that area. We don't know how long he'd been walking before he got to that station, maybe he got a ride."

"That's a good start. Hopefully he didn't walk that far."

TBC...I know, I know, but I have to eat and stuff. I promise to update tomorrow or the next day!


	4. The Discovery

A/N: Okay, I'll never promise anything again. I extremely, greatly, apologize for not updating this story in months. I would make up excuses, but that's not like me. My best defense is that life got in the way. I hope people are still reading this, or wanting me to continue writing it. :)

Grissom returns to the room a few minutes later. He's carrying a plate with a sandwich on it and a can of coke and places it in front of William. He sits down across from him and watches as William nearly engulfs the sandwich. After he's done with the food, Grissom leans forward.

"Good," He asks William.

William nods and looks at the coke can, still unopened, "Zack needs food." He studies the can in confusion.

"I know he does." Grissom watches him and realizes he doesn't know how to open it. He reaches across the table and pops the tab on the can. "There you go. I should have done that before."

William glances up at him from the can, "Not water?"

"I guess you've never had a coke before. No, that's not water…do you want water?"

William takes a cautious sip from the can. He covers his mouth and starts coughing. "Hot…uh, burns the back."

"It's the carbonation. It can do that. I can get you something else." He starts to stand.

"No. It's…good. Water, too much." William takes another drink, this time a few gulps.

Grissom smiles a little. "I, uh, I need to process your clothes William. I need to find out where Zach is." He catches the slight fear filling William's eyes again. "It won't hurt. But, I will need you clothes." He takes a breath. "Your shirt and your pants."

_Oh. No! _William places the can down and shakes his head. "No. I…" He covers his eyes with his hands then quickly pulls them away. _He can't make me! I won't. I can't. _

"William." Grissom said in a low voice. "I'm not going to hurt you in anyway, okay. Your clothes, they might have something on them that will help me find Zack. Do you want to help Zack, William?"

William nods.

"Then, let me process your clothes. Okay?"

William shakes his head. "It's Frank. I can't let you. I can't." He looks up into Grissom's eyes. He was moments from breaking into tears.

Grissom sets back in his chair. "Who's Frank?"

_Oh no. Frank, he'll hurt me for this. _"No. I didn't…" He looks down at the table.

"Yes you did. Who's Frank, William? Is he the man that took you? That took Zack?"

William never looks back up at Grissom.

"William?" Grissom says more sternly. The guy doesn't move.

Grissom sighs and sits back in the chair. He knew he'd lost him, for now. "I want you to think about this while I'm gone. Okay? We need to find Zack. His parents want him back. We also need to find the man who took you and Zack. To make sure he doesn't do this again. And you can help me. You're the only one who knows where they are. I need to know if you'll help me."

Grissom still doesn't get a response. He saw William stiffen and catch his breath at the mention of finding the man who took them, that was all the indication he gave to what Grissom had said.

Grissom stands up and leaves the room. William stares at the table. He knows he has a choice to make. He just doesn't like what he has to choose.

May 26, 2005: 2:30 a.m.

Brass pulls up in front of the gas station. Marked and unmarked cars come to a stop around him. He gets out and addresses the other officers.

"Okay. Those traveling on foot, spread out and search for footprints. Those in cars, pick a road. Look for any big building or house. Remember also that we are looking for a five year old boy, so be on the lookout for a child too. Just in case he started to walk himself."

Grissom finds Greg with Archie. Both me are studying a computer screen. "Greg. What do you got?" He leans between the two and looks at the screen.

"I found the old paper clippings from Arizona about the kidnapping. William was taken from a grocery store, very typical for abductions. There was an investigation but they didn't get much. So, I went to find out what I could about his parents and um…"

"What is it Greg?" Grissom suddenly doesn't like where this is going.

"They're dead. Both of them in a car crash on the interstate. Since then, the case went cold. No one was looking for William anymore. I presume his file got placed in unsolved."

"Have you heard from Brass yet?"

"No. Are you through processing him yet?" Greg finally looks up at his boss.

"He won't let me finish processing him. But hopefully, that'll change." Just then his cell phone rang. It was Brass. "Grissom." He spoke into the phone.

"Gil. We've found the building. Zack's not here."

"What? How can that be?"

"I'm not sure, but from the looks of it, the kid put up one hell of a struggle. You need to get out here and process."

"Okay. Where is it?" Grissom motioned for Greg to follow him out into the hall.

"It's an old warehouse, seven miles west of the gas station. The guy walked seven miles, can you believe that. It must have taken him at least three hours to walk to that gas station."

"Thanks Jim. We're on our way." Grissom flips off his phone and turns to Greg. "This case just keeps getting worse. I'll meet you at the truck."

Greg nods. "Where are you going?"

"To get William, we're going to need him."

TBC…


End file.
